In English Please...

Is it just me or does it bother the rest of you out there when you see posts that are written in pseudo-english... and half your time is trying to figure out what is being said because either the english is so bad or the typing is horrible.
I know we are not all perfect typists and that there are mistakes that are made sometimes but I know there are some posters who either don't care or do not have a firm grasp on the enlish language.
What are your thoughts?

First I think we have to try and tell the difference between those that don't even try to type right (like their posts make it seem like they were texting someone on their cellphone) and those people that do not have a firm base of the English language.
Even though I haven't been here that long I have been able to see that this community has a large international body. And if someone from another country doesn't know English well you at least have to give them credit for trying. As hard as it is for you to try and decipher what they are saying, it is even harder for them to try and translate what they are trying to say from their language to english. You just got to give it some patience and try to see where they are comming from. Every little bit they type, read, write, and say will give them a better grasp on a foreign language. I should know. I lived in Germany for a year and when I went their I knew a total of 2 or 3 sentences.
I am annoyed at those that are too lazy to type in full sentences, to spell words out, or to use puntuation. That is just laziness and most times you can't even understand what they are trying to say. I am not going to waste my time to try and read those posts on this site or any other that I belong to. You can tell the people that do this. Their senteces run together, all their words are abbreviated and it seems from what you can read to make no sense what-so-ever.
But I will be the first to admit that I don't have the best spelling or grammar, but at least I usually try my hardest. You can tell when I'm being lazy because I will usually write everything in lowercase letters lol.

I completely concur. It is not the 'texters' that I get upset with. I just don't read their posts at all... an occasional smiley face at the end of the post is ok but to write in full pseudocode is crazy.
As for those who are newbies to English... I can write in French, Spanish, and in Arabic... doesn't mean I am good enough at any of them to write anything more than short posts to some forums I belong to and my Spanish is incredulously rusty even though I live in a 'Spanish' state in the US (aren't they all becoming that way).
I think it is great for someone to learn a new language and if they don't know how to spell/say something in English there are some great online tools and they should use those.
A great post
Thanks
Zelo

it is the new language of the text message and computers. so many people do this now that i try to figure out the message. What gets me is when they day 'dis for this or 'dat for that..etc etc..i don't mind skipping capital letters or some pronounucaton..as i spell terrible sometimes..but i try

It's not that at all... when I type on here I try to spell everything out whereas when I type lets just say in IM it is a completely different language... when I am reading a post and I have to interpret what the heck it is someone is trying to say I just go on to another post and leave that one behind.
Which is really sad because I am sure there are excellent posts out there from people who are just to..... lazy? to write correctly... very annoying.
I don't mind an occasional misspelled word... and God knows I use my own form of punctuation.... but that is to make things easier to read and goes along with my thought process a lot better.
Would it be better if MyLot had sections for people who speak in different languages? I don't know if that the answer or not.
Thanks for your response.
Zelo

When I see someone that is a non-native speaker, I'm more forgiving than someone who is obviously a native speaker.
I have had people say that they are coming here to try and improve their skills, and I will try to puzzle out what they are trying to communicate.
Sometimes I'm just flummoxed tho...

Not the figuring out, its when the words/wording don't make sense to a person who is a native speaker.
Now... I do understand why they sometimes do that. Words they use to relay an idea don't exactly translate to the words we use to relay an idea.
They have done a study of people doing tests. they find that people, even those that read/speak a second language fluently, don't test as well in the second language because there is always something of a translation process going on.

My wife is trilingual and I asked her what I thought was a simple question...
"What language do you think in?"
She thought for a second and said "I don't really know". But I do know...
She thinks in English (her third language but the one that she uses the most).
Why do I KNOW this.
Hit yourself with a hammer and then see what words come out... that is the language you are thinking in.
She keeps up her language skills by READING and keeping either a dictionary or me close so if she doesn't know the meaning of a word... today it was... swivel ... she can look it up or ask and then there is another word in her arsenal.
As another tangent to this situation... most native speakers of English read and write on a 5th grade level and when articles are written for magazines and the such that is kept in mind.
Other news publications such as US & World Report and the Wall Street Journal are written on a much higher level as a couple examples of some that are and some that are not. Pick up two magazines... a US & World Report and say a Readers Digest and look at the difference in language......

Well I have noticed that.There are so many reasons.
Number one is so many people are very poor in English here.
Two,it is the common practice of the people from a certain country who know English to try to show off their command over the language by being so elaborate and not coming to the point straight.
Three, there are some people who believe that they earn more by putting more words keep piling up words and sentences incoherently.These are the main culprits.
So I think that we have to face all kinds of people here or for that matter in any forum.

Well I have noticed that.There are so many reasons.
1. There are great English translators (they are listed above)
2. The people who get to the point are the people that I respond to and give Best Answers to. It is not how many words it is how you use them. Effort is also put into consideration
3. Yes these are the main culprits and those are the ones I really have a beef with.
I understand there are all kinds of people. For the longest time US was NOT the top country in MyLot. Just let's try to make this so we can all understand.
Great post.
Zelo

I encounter this problem quite often. Sometimes it is really difficult for me to decode the message/s. Of course, I wouldn't like to assume what the messages actually mean because I might interpret it differently. Wrong spelling and grammatical errors are common problems here at myLot. Others are simply typographical errors. Maybe we just have to be a little more patient my friend.

MyLot... if you are out there listening... we DEFINATELY need a spell-checker here.
Decoding messages should not be a part of the daily ritual of me going through literally hundreds of posts from friends and bloggers alike.
Thanks for the post.
Zelo

YOU have to understand this is an English site and if you don't speak English well enough to participate then you shouldn't be here. How would you like it if I messed up when I spoke Spanish to you? I have been to Spain, they are ALMOST as bad as the French when it comes to needing to not only know the language but to know how to . . . speak it properly.
Hablo español. Soy de la Florida. Yo no escribir en español. Las reglas son sólo para uso de la palabra en Inglés.
Thank you for your post.

Well, I am bother about it sometimes. But I always try to understand what it means, read and figure out what is really means for I too is not good in English. But I think this grammatical error or misspelled words could be attributed to too much texting. This has been an issue in my country. They said that because of texting, people no longer observe grammar and punctuation so long as they can have their message long with those shorten words. And because they are accustomed doing that to their cellphone, there is a tendency that they will be able to bring the accustomed habit in responding to discussion here on internet and even on writing habit.
I am also get annoyed sometimes of acronyms. By the way what LMAO means. I have met these acronym a lot of time here but I still don't know what it means.

Well your post is a good example. No the English in this post is not good but it is not totally misspelled. My wife just came to America in 2000 and still struggles slightly with some of the things in your post that are wrong... when to use plural, singular, past tense, etc...
I mean heck you even spelled acronym correctly which is not the easiest of words to spell... very good job, there should be more like you out there.
Great post.

You've got to remember, this is a World Symposium....and we all have a part in it. Are you suggesting that if you can't exchange in English, you shouldn't be here? This is a learning ground, so you can feel good when you accept all input, be it spelled correct or not.

I believe it is part of the T&C that all entries be in English... I can look that up and see if I am correct or not. I don't know why I wouldn't run into foreign posts otherwise since there are more people from non-English-speaking countries than there are the contrary.
As for the English-only... this is straight from the guidelines section of the web site...
"Post in English, unfortunately the staff at myLot is not bilingual. "
Thanks for the post.
Zelo

mylot is such a mixed lot of poeple ya cant exspect all to wirte the english good.
we make out ok in game rooms with puter short hand so we all should be able to make out what others right in here at least they are trying and the more they write the more they learn to write english right?

Imagine if myLot had originated in China and the language was Chinese. Suppose we all wanted to learn Chinese. myLot would be a Great way to practise our new language skills. Plus we would need a keyboard with Chinese symbols. My God! What a challenge that would be!
Would you or I, even have the guts to try it? (I once used a Chinese Internet Cafe when visiting Taiwan, and when that screen came up in Chinese it almost blew me away) Lets give all those people who are doing their best to learn the language, here on myLot, a real LOUD Cheer! Good work and stay with it!

It didn't originate in China... it is not a Chinese web site. If you want a Chinese web site go to Sina or Soho. I had the same 'problem' that you had when I was in Morocco (Arabic) and the keyboard was a French (AZERTY) / Arabic keyboard (yes it was all on one keyboard).
Let's let these people who are struggling (if you wish to use that word) to learn English to do it correctly and not 'cheat' making all the more difficult.
Great post.
Thanks
Zelo